Q&A with EllisDon’s Connie Ellis |
The construction services company’s director of mental health discusses bringing psychological health and safety to an industry she grew up in, women’s health and road trips with her senior dog.
Q: What new programs or initiatives are you looking to implement?
A: At the end of 2025, we launched company-wide mental-health compliance training to raise awareness, reduce stigma and promote coping and resources. We also developed a customized, scenario-based, leader training workshop geared towards site leaders who bear the most risk when it comes to psychological health and safety in our industry.
Read: Are workplace mental-health programs evolving beyond the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace?
In December, we had a successful pilot of 60 leaders in Alberta and are excited to continue to roll this out in 2026. We’re also introducing a company-wide survey on psychological health and safety factors this year.
Q: How do you judge the success of a program or initiative?
A: It can be difficult to show return on investment for mental-health initiatives, so we ensure we measure the value of the training with evaluations tied to the workshop objectives and practical/behavioural skills gained. We also track our internal incident........